Evisu's new London store

The Japanese denim brand comes of age with a new Carnaby Street boutique

21 years ago Yamane Hidehiko – a Japanese tailor with a penchant for jeans – salvaged antique denim looms and revived their traditional techniques. Two decades (and a bit) later, Hidehiko’s vision for vintage-style selvedge denim, which formed the foundations of Evisu, still stands as a forward-thinking approach to quality-driven design. Celebrating their heritage, Evisu has opened their second London store in the famed Newburgh Quarter of Carnaby Street.

The store is built to reflect the brand’s identity, with its gold leaf gilding representing their gull insignia and Noren screens paired with antique furniture to highlight Evisu’s history. Emphasising their unique attention to detail the shop houses a hideaway of its ‘Private Stock’ where true denim lovers can find the latest collections. Interestingly, they also have a rotating gallery of in-house artists, on hand to customise denim.

This autumn Evisu is staying true to its roots by working humour and irreverence into its three new ranges and mainline showcase of engineered denim. In bold colours with equally strong graphics the ‘Heritage’ men’s collection dapples with references from bygone eras and childhood toys for a playful take on outerwear and Japanese classics. The ‘Genes’ range of dropped crotch, arc legged and curved edged denim is inspired by 80s arcade games and, the ‘Evergreen’ collection uses Evisu’s honed logos for embellishment, like, their Kamon crest and Daicock illustration.